Corporate leaders shouldn't freak out if employees talk to their counterparts at rival firms, writes Leonard Fuld. Information is a two-way street, and companies that ban workers from contact with competitors risk isolating themselves -- or, worse, creating a culture of mistrust in which employees do what they must to gather information, but then lie about it to their bosses. "Such unrealistic rules are no more likely to stop the flow of competitive information than Prohibition stopped the flow of liquor," Fuld writes.

Most of my employees don't see the rival companies as rivals at all. The programmers enjoy talking to other programmers and some of the salesmen just happen to have other salesmen friends at rival companies. People at corporate always make a big fuss about not revealing company information. At the end of the day you have to just realize that employees are just people and they are allowed to have friends that you don't approve of._________________I use recruiting software to find employees.